GDN:Check-up ordeal for Juma

Check-up ordeal for Juma
By KANWAL TARIQ HAMEED
Published: 7th September 2006

A BAHRAINI detainee at Guantanamo Bay who has reportedly tried to kill himself 13 times, is receiving “questionable” psychiatric treatment, he told his lawyer. Juma Al Dossary slashed his own throat and leg with a razor in his latest suicide attempt on March 11.

He is now seen by a “psych-tech” (military mental health personnel) on a daily basis and two psychiatrists once a week.

They typically ask about his eating and sleeping habits and whether he thinks about hurting himself or others, Al Dossary told his New York-based lawyer, who visited the camp last month.

Check-up ordeal for Juma
By KANWAL TARIQ HAMEED
Published: 7th September 2006

He is now seen by a “psych-tech” (military mental health personnel) on a daily basis and two psychiatrists once a week.

They typically ask about his eating and sleeping habits and whether he thinks about hurting himself or others, Al Dossary told his New York-based lawyer, who visited the camp last month.

Mr Al Dossary said he did not trust mental health care staff at Guantanamo Bay, who have corroborated and worked with military interrogators.

Detainees report that they are “fine” to mental health care officials because other responses result in “even stricter conditions”, he added.

“During our recent visit to Guantanamo, we talked to Juma regarding his mental condition,” said lawyer Joshua Colangelo-Bryan said.

“It appears that Juma still receives questionable mental health care at Guantanamo.

“A psych-tech sees Juma typically every day.

“The psych-tech always asks the same questions: ‘Are you eating well?’, ‘Are you sleeping well?’, ‘Do you think about hurting yourself?’ and ‘Do you think about hurting others?’.”

“Two psychiatrists visit Juma once per week.

“They spend a few minutes with him and ask the same questions that the psych-techs ask.”

Psychiatric personnel at the prison expressed worries that Mr Al Dossary would harm himself during his lawyer’s visit last month.

“Shortly before our August visit, Juma had asked a psychiatrist if he could have a pen. “The psychiatrist told him that she did not want to discuss anything, but just wanted to ‘get through’ Juma’s visit with me.

“She said that she was very worried about the visit and that they expected Juma to harm himself during the visit.

Only Mr Al Dossari’s release, or changes in his conditions of confinement will improve his mental health, said Mr Colangelo-Bryan.

The GDN reported earlier this week how Mr Al Dossary continued to be held in isolated conditions in a freezing cold cell, at the Guantanamo Bay mental health unit.

He told his lawyer his personal items were limited to a blanket, mattress and Quran following the deaths of three inmates by apparent suicide on June 10.

This was later increased to soap, a toothbrush and toothpaste.

Mr Al Dossary also said he was only transferred to a cell with a toilet inside it after repeatedly pleading with prison staff, who previously would search him before and after every trip to the toilet outside his cell.

“Obviously, the care that Juma receives is inadequate,” said Mr Colangelo-Bryan.

“Of course, it would be impossible for Juma to receive appropriate care from the military because – understandably – he does not trust the mental health professionals at Guantanamo.

“As he has pointed out, mental health care staff have worked with interrogators at Guantanamo and that alone keeps him from trusting these staff.”

Mr Al Dossary’s mental health has been a major cause of concern for his lawyers, who filed a case with the US District Court Of Columbia in November last year asking for “modest relief” and “minimally humane conditions”.

The court document states that Mr Al Dossary was held for almost two years without “any meaningful contact” with other human beings and when discussing his conditions, asked his lawyers: “What can I do to keep myself from going crazy?”

In May this year Al Dossary told his lawyer how he became “overwhelmed” by feelings of hopelessness before jamming the lock of his cell with the top of a yoghurt container, cutting open a vein in his leg and finally slashing his throat with a razor he had hidden in his cell.”

Mr Al Dossary has since said that he believes he may have been infected with a blood disease by a blood transfusion administered at the camp military hospital, after the suicide attempt.

The two other Bahrainis currently incarcerated at Guantanamo Bay are Salah Abdulrasool Al Bloushi, 24 and Isa Al Murbati, 41.

They are all approaching five years without trial.

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